18S sysiKMATIC J'OMOlJfCY 



274. The genus Ribes. — 'Va ihis ^n'lms hrlong the red, white, 

 Mack, and «r<)lcl('n currant.s of tlic "gardens, representing several 

 si)eL'ies; cultivated g()o.sel)erries eoiiiin^- from two or three 

 species; and a dozen or more species cultivated as ornamentals 

 for their flowers, fruits, or foliage. There are about 150 species 

 of Ribes well distributed throughout the north temperate re- 

 gions of both hemispheres and of South America. Many species 

 not now cultivated offer possibilities for the garden. The fol- 

 lowing characters of the genus are of importance to pomologists : 



Low prickly or unarmed shrubs. Leaves deciduous or rarely evergreen, 

 alternate, palniately lobed, often fascicled on the branches, mostly plaited 

 in the bud. Flowers perfect or sometimes dia?cious in ornamental species 

 only, 5-parted, borne in few- to many-flowered racemes, in edible-fruited 

 species greenish, reddish or yellow and mostly insignificant ; calyx-tube 

 cylindric to rotate, usually colored ; petals smaller tlian the sepals, often 

 minute; ovary inferior, 1 -celled; styles 1 or 2. Fruit a many-seeded pulpy 

 berry, crowned by the remains of the calyx, red, white, purple, scarlet, yel- 

 low or greenish, the edible species ripening their fruits in early summer. 



KEY TO CULTIVATED SPECIES OF RIBES 



A. Branches thornless and spineless; flowers in racemes. 

 (Currants) 

 B. Leaves not resinous dotted below. 



C. Flower flat or saucer-shaped ; fruit light red or 

 white. 



D. Flowers very flat, with a fleshy ring between 

 the stamens and style; fruit-racemes markedly 

 drooping ; berries borne freely around the main 



stem 1. B. sativum 



DD. Flowers less flat, without a fleshy ring ; fruit- 

 raceme more spreading ; berries borne on one 



side of main stem 2, E. ruhrum 



C. Flower broadly campanulate, pink or reddish, 

 without ring ; sepals ciliate ; berries darker red, 



more acid 3. R. petrceiim 



CC. Flowers tubular yellow ; fruit black or yellow . . A. B. odoratum. 

 BB. Leaves resinous dotted at the back; flowers cam- 

 panulate; fruit black; plants of a disagreeable 



smell 5. B. nigrum. 



A A. Branches Avith thorns or spines. (Gooseberries) 



B. Fruit smooth ; spines generally solitary and slender 6. B. hirtellum 

 BB. Fruit prickly, glandular, hairy or pubescent ; 



spines in threes, stout 7. B. Grossidaria 



275. Pomological classification of currants and gooseberries. 



— There are no other pomological plants with which currants 

 and gooseberries can be confused, and the species constitute 



